Reflections
by gawilliams
Summary: Booth and Bones reflect on their marriage on their 30th Annoversary.  Part of the Deep Regrets storyline.


_Here's something that I felt like doing for the Deep Regrets universe. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did writing it. Gregg._

_Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended._

Booth walked slowly down the path to the beach that was their private getaway on this anniversary trip. They'd decided on this special anniversary that they would spend it on an island Tahiti with a private bungalow and beach. It was heaven. If only he hadn't had to have hip replacement surgery a few weeks before. He was doing well, but his walk was slow, and he had to use a cane most of the time for the foreseeable future. It really sucked getting old.

The sight that greeted him, though, once he got to their spot, was one he would never tire of. Bones. The most beautiful woman he'd ever known. There she was, at 68 in a bikini, her body barely showing any signs of her true age. Naturally she was reading some massive sized book and he knew if he looked at the title he'd be lost at that point. Leave it to Bones to bring some oversized Squint tome with her on their anniversary trip.

"Hey, Bones," he said with his trademark charm smile in place.

Bones looked up and smiled widely. Booth had taken a nap and she had decided to read for a bit on the beach under the large beach umbrella they had been provided with. The light breeze coming off the ocean was perfect for an enjoyable afternoon in the shade on the beach. She was glad he'd decided to join her out here. He was moving much better, too, so she was not quite as worried about his hip replacement as she had been before the trip.

"Hi," she said warmly as she looked him up and down. His perfectly symmetrical body was still perfect in her opinion, even if it wasn't as fully toned as it used to be. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Better," he assured her as he slowly, and gingerly, took a seat beside her on the leaning beach chair. He placed an arm over her shoulders, and sighed in happiness when she leaned in against him. Yep. He still had it!

"Any pain?" she asked.

"A bit, but I took some ibuprofen for it," he told her.

"I retired last Friday," she told him, changing the subject completely.

"Huh?" he asked, a bit nonplussed. She'd been semi-retired for about ten years now, but she'd never completely retired from her work with the Jeffersonian. He'd expected her to keep on with the current arrangement until, or if, health concerns prevented it.

"I made the decision when you broke your hip and had the replacement," she told him, reaching over and taking his left hand in hers, holding it gently as she admired the strong, firm hand. "I realized that we're not getting any younger, as if that were possible, and I want to be able to spend more time with you, especially now that we've reached our first benchmark."

"Benchmark?" he asked, now confused.

She chuckled. "Remember when I foolishly rejected you and you said you needed to be with someone to love for the next 30, 40, or 50 years?" she asked.

He grimaced. "Not one of my more shining moments, Bones," he replied. He'd screwed up so bad that night, and in the months that followed it.

"Booth, this is our thirtieth anniversary," she told him with a warm smile. "You've never asked me to put aside any of my interests or activities in all that time. Now that we've reached the first of those important numbers, I thought we could have all our time to ourselves for the next two, or if we're lucky, a third ten year mark."

"You're giving up everything?" he asked, not sure he wanted her to do that. She loved her work, and the enjoyment she got out of it was something that made him happy, too.

"I'll still write my novels, and the occasional article, but no more lab work, and no more trips for digs to supervise grad students," she informed him. She chuckled. "The Jeffersonian made a rather lucrative offer to keep me, but considering the money we have already, I said no." She paused and looked up into his eyes. "This is my anniversary gift to you," she explained. "For the thirty-eight years we've known each other, you've been my best friend, then my lover, and then my husband. You never asked for anything for yourself from me in all that time except what I was willing or able to give. I decided it's time for me to give you something just as special. My time, my energy, and my undivided attention."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" he asked, clearly overwhelmed. The blue sapphire dolphin pendant he had given her for an anniversary gift seemed to pale in comparison in his opinion.

"I began thinking of full retirement a couple of years ago, but when you broke your hip I made a final decision," she told him.

"I don't think I ever pictured you retiring, Bones," he admitted, holding her even closer.

"I would have to eventually," she pointed out. "Perhaps not now, but eventually."

"What's your favorite memory of the last 30 years?" Booth asked. He decided that she was being serious and would not regret her decision, so he decided to just talk about his favorite subject: them.

Bones smiled. "Watching you spit out your soda when Parker asked you what fellatio was," she told him, looking up into his face and seeing the horror of that memory flashing before his eyes. Well, horror for him. She thought it was hilarious.

"Out of all the memories, three kids being born, our grandchildren being born, all the mind blowing sex over the years, and you pick _**that**_ as your favorite memory?" he asked incredulously. He still had nightmares about that one on occasion. Despite what she'd told him after she'd been the one to talk with Parker about sex, he'd left all the sex lectures to her from then on. He may have had some real qualms about kids so young seeing a video of a live birth, and he definitely had no wish to see one again himself, but something good _**had **_come of it. Parker had been pretty adamant afterwards about not wanting to get a girl pregnant unless it was for keeps. That video, no matter how cool his son thought it was, had shown him that actions have consequences. Life altering consequences.

"You said _**favorite**_ memory, not the _**best**_ memory," she pointed out. She knew he couldn't resist the bait.

"Okay, what's your _**best**_ memory of the last thirty years," he asked with a dramatic sigh.

"Watching you walk our daughter down the aisle at her wedding," she told him simply.

Booth smiled. That was a good memory for him, too, though he thought his little warning to his baby girl's fiancé about what would happen to him if he ever hurt her was his favorite of that whole thing. "What makes that your best memory?" he asked.

"Knowing that your fly was unzipped, though your tuxedo jacket was buttoned so no one knew but me," she said impishly.

Booth groaned. "And whose fault was it that it was unzipped?" he asked, the sarcasm very apparent.

"Mine," she admitted, still smiling. "But who was so nervous that he needed a bit of a _**release**_ in order to simply walk down an aisle?"

"Okay, so we both contributed to that one," he sulked. That had not been one of his finer moments, either, in his opinion. Thank God no one had been paying attention to _**him**_ that day!

"Seriously, though?" she questioned. "It's my best memory because I was able to see for myself the beauty of a marriage ceremony and what it symbolizes. No anthropology, and no thoughts of outdated concepts. It showed me just how right you've always been about it, and us, and how lucky I really was to have you."

"What about our own ceremony?" he teased, already knowing the answer.

"I was more curious about how you would be acting since my Father had threatened you once I got pregnant," she chuckled.

"So it was a sham?" he exclaimed in fake shock. Then he started laughing.

"_**Nothing**_ about our marriage has been a sham," she told him softly, making sure he saw in her eyes just how serious she was about that statement.

"I know," he replied just as softly.

"What's your best memory of the last thirty years?" she asked.

"You'll think it's dumb, Bones," he said sheepishly.

"No I won't," she assured him. "Odd, maybe, but not dumb."

"It's really something that happens all the time," he told her. "When we get lunch at the diner, or maybe dinner, you still steal my fries."

She raised a brow. "How is that your best memory?" she asked curiously. Definitely odd.

"Well, in it's own way, it gives me comfort because no matter what's happening, no matter how frustrated we get with each other, if you're still stealing my fries we're still solid," he shrugged.

"Even after thirty years of marriage you wonder if we're solid?" she asked, a bit shocked.

"No," he retreated a bit. "The time we've been married is the icing on the cake, Bones. It's the little things, like you stealing my fries, that tells me that what made us the couple we are is still there. No matter how many benchmarks we reach, I'll always be happy with those little things. It's what I love about you, and what I love about out marriage."

"You know what I love about our marriage?" she asked. She was hard pressed not to rip his meager clothes off and make love to him after what he just said, but his hip just wouldn't take it until it was fully healed.

"What's that?" he asked.

"You coming into my office at home and spending the day on the couch while I write or do research," she told him. "No matter how close we are, I can never forget the loss I fear. You coming in just to be with me lets me know that you're the one person who keeps his promise and I never have to worry about being left alone."

"Even if I'm just laying there reading a _**graphic novel**_?" he asked with genuine good humor.

"_**Comic book**_," she teased, always willing to take part in the long running banter over his favored reading material.

"I got an e-mail from Joy this morning," Bones continued.

Booth smiled. He always loved hearing from their oldest grandchild who was now 21 and working on the last of her dissertation requirements for her doctorate. The girl reminded him, by her enthusiasm for learning, of her Grandmother. How could he not love hearing from her? "So what is our latest Super Squint doing?" he asked.

"She's engaged to be married," Bones told him slyly.

"Uh, Bones, I forgot something up at the bungalow," Booth said after a long silence. "I think I'll just go up there and get it."

"You mean you're going to use your connections and find out who he is and do a background check on him," Bones glared at him knowingly.

"Well Parker obviously didn't do a good enough job if our poor little granddaughter has been enticed into getting engaged to some schmuck at her tender age," Booth defended himself.

"Parker was two years younger when he got married," Bones pointed out.

"That's different," Booth responded, knowing he'd lost already.

"Do you really want to stick with that gender biased comment?" she asked, a brow arched.

"Uh, no," he finally said, his eyes lowered. Yeah, he knew what side his bread was buttered on, and he still wanted to get some once his hip healed, so it was better to retreat from such things considering how Bones normally reacted.

"What we're going to do is call her this evening, congratulate her, and then we are going to wish her the kind of happiness we've had for the last thirty years," she told him.

"Can I at least offer to beat him up if he ever hurts her in any way?" Booth whined, loving to banter.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from my favorite Alpha Male Neanderthal," she replied as she curled into him closer, enjoying as always, his warm body. It was the perfect offset to the cool breeze coming off the ocean.

Both of them spent some time on the beach reflecting on what the past thirty years meant to them, and what they hoped for the next, if they were lucky in terms of longevity, thirty years. All in all, they considered themselves very lucky, and that for them the old adage of _**opposites attract**_ was the most accurate truism in the world.

_A/N: Just a short, reflective conversation, with some humor thrown in, to end the year 2010. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Happy New Year! Gregg._


End file.
